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WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes

It’s a writer’s job to create compelling characters who can withstand life’s fallout without giving up. But building authentic, memorable heroes is no easy task. To forge realistic characters, we must hobble them with flaws that set them back while giving them positive attributes to help them achieve their goals. So how do writers choose the right blend of strengths for their characters–attributes that will render them admirable and worth rooting for—without making it too easy for them to succeed? Character creation can be hard, but it’s about to get a lot easier.

Inside The Positive Trait Thesaurus, you’ll find:

  • A large selection of attributes to choose from when building a personality profile. Each entry lists possible causes for why a trait might emerge, along with associated attitudes, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions
  • Real character examples from literature, film, or television to show how an attribute drives actions and decisions, influences goals, and steers relationships
  • Advice on using positive traits to immediately hook readers while avoiding common personality pitfalls
  • Insight on human needs and morality, and how each determines the strengths that emerge in heroes and villains alike
  • Information on the key role positive attributes play within the character arc, and how they’re vital to overcoming fatal flaws and achieving success
  • Downloadable tools for organizing a character’s attributes and providing a deeper understanding of his past, his needs, and the emotional wounds he must overcome

If you find character creation difficult or worry that your cast members all seem the same, The Positive Trait Thesaurus is brimming with ideas to help you develop one-of-a-kind, dynamic characters that readers will love. Extensively indexed, with entries written in a user-friendly list format, this brainstorming resource is perfect for any character creation project.

For a sneak peak, click the image to preview this book at Amazon (contains an affiliate link).

Buy the book in print and ebook or PDF formats
Add it to your Goodreads list and see what reviewers are saying
See the master list of entries

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jackson says

    February 8, 2022 at 9:06 am

    Therefore there are so many of them available

    Reply
  2. Warren Hawkins says

    February 3, 2022 at 8:37 pm

    Do your books come in book form?

    Reply
    • ANGELA ACKERMAN says

      February 3, 2022 at 10:28 pm

      Hi Warren, I’m assuming you’re asking about the format of our books, but I’m not sure which you need. Our books are all available in Print, eBook, and PDF except for Emotional Amplifiers which is just eBook and Print. YOu can find all the places to get our books here: https://writershelpingwriters.net/bookstore/

      Reply
  3. Joseph M. Munoz says

    January 14, 2022 at 3:01 pm

    I have read the book, and it was beneficial for my mental blocks! The book has a vast amount of good reviews. I have to write my book report for my work and I even decided to base my information on this particular book.

    Thank you Angela & Becca for such an excellent book!

    Reply
    • ANGELA ACKERMAN says

      January 16, 2022 at 4:35 pm

      Very glad it was a help!

      Reply
  4. William Chambers says

    June 23, 2020 at 8:42 am

    Cool

    Reply
  5. Scholarly Article says

    January 2, 2019 at 8:06 am

    This is an invaluable writing tool and one I know I will refer back to whenever I need to create characters. I loved how the authors laid it all out and simplified how to create characters in the beginning and then followed it up with a comprehensive list of positive attributes that offer possible reasons the character may have developed that trait. What a great way to spark ideas and get to the heart and soul of each character!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Love to Learn: The Writer’s Bible: The Positive Trait Thesaurus. says:
    October 6, 2021 at 6:57 am

    […] Got this one directly from their website where you can also purchase the book: https://writershelpingwriters.net/positive-trait-thesaurus/ […]

    Reply
  2. ”The Emotional Wound Thesaurus” av Angela Ackerman och Becca Puglisi – Mitt Skrivprojekt says:
    January 26, 2019 at 8:08 am

    […] visas möjliga positiva attribut (tagna från författarnas ”Positive Trait Thesaurus”) och brister (från författarnas ”Negative Trait Thesaurus”) som såret kan ge upphov till. […]

    Reply
  3. Guest Post: 2 1/2 Indie Resources I Can’t Live Without by Becca Puglisi says:
    April 25, 2017 at 3:11 pm

    […] sharing her knowledge with others. This is one of her reasons for writing The Emotion Thesaurus, The Positive Trait Thesaurus, and The Negative Trait Thesaurus. A member of SCBWI, she leads workshops at regional conferences, […]

    Reply
  4. Useful Tips For Writers pt1. – writerdmayall says:
    May 26, 2016 at 3:44 am

    […] writing the Positive Trait & Negative Trait Thesaurus books have taught me anything, it is that compelling characters are […]

    Reply
  5. Top 20 books for writers | Tracey Ambrose says:
    October 21, 2015 at 5:08 pm

    […] The Positive Trait Thesaurus, The Negative Trait Thesaurus and The Emotion Thesaurus, by Rebecca Puglisis and Angela Ackerman […]

    Reply
  6. One Stop For Writers: Virtually all a writer needs | Heather M. O'Connor says:
    October 7, 2015 at 12:05 pm

    […] books by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi: The Emotion Thesaurus, The Positive Traits Thesaurus and The Negative Traits […]

    Reply
  7. 24 Traits to Show How Your Characters Think - Zoe M. McCarthy says:
    June 18, 2015 at 6:32 am

    […] have Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s writer’s resource, The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes. I chose 24 character traits from their list and wrote thoughts the characters with these traits […]

    Reply
  8. Gifts That Matter: What Writers Need Most This Christmas | Writers In The Storm says:
    December 17, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    […] three bestselling resources, The Emotion Thesaurus: a Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, The Positive Trait Thesaurus: a Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes andThe Negative Trait Thesaurus: a Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws. A proud indie author, her […]

    Reply
  9. 50 Shades of Action | Megan Dakin says:
    October 21, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    […] Know your characters. I’ve said this before, but everything comes down to character! Let’s say your character kicks a puppy and smiles. If he’s stereotypical evil, readers might already guess he smiles. If he’s the hero, readers might need to know he smiles when he kicks puppies. For help developing characters, check out The Positive Trait Thesaurus. […]

    Reply
  10. NaNoWriMo Prep | Writers In The Storm says:
    October 15, 2014 at 6:13 pm

    […] of three bestselling resources, The Emotion Thesaurus: a Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, The Positive Trait Thesaurus: a Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes and The Negative Trait Thesaurus: a Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws. A proud indie author, her […]

    Reply
  11. The edit continues | Sophie is… says:
    September 16, 2014 at 8:29 am

    […] again have helped focus my thinking – this time in the area of characterisation.   They are The Positive Trait Thesaurus and its counterpoint for negative traits – basically lists of the characteristics that make […]

    Reply
  12. What Killed It For Me #4: Clichéd Characters | WRITERS HELPING WRITERSWRITERS HELPING WRITERS says:
    April 2, 2014 at 10:46 am

    […] Helping Writers, thanks to the research and practice we put in while writing our negative trait and positive trait thesaurus books. Here are some tips we’ve learned on how to write believable and interesting characters […]

    Reply
  13. Emotion-Charged Settings - Writer.ly Community : Writer.ly Community says:
    March 7, 2014 at 1:39 pm

    […] Ackerman is the author of the bestselling writing guide, The Emotion Thesaurus, and most recently, The Positive Trait and Negative Trait Thesaurus books. Centering on the light and dark side of a character’s […]

    Reply

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